Blue chips and tech stocks parted ways soon after the opening bell with the Dow Jones Industrial Average 
shrugging off weakness and holding on steady to its gains.
Meanwhile the Nasdaq Composite Index
stuck to the path carved out in morning futures trading, lately trading lower.
| Major Indices | | INDEX | CHANGE | % | VALUE | | Dow |   37.74 | 0.35% | 10,725.66 | | S&P 500 |  6.14 | -0.42% | 1445.20 | | Nasdaq | 39.54 | -1.01% | 3857.90 | | Russell 2000 | 2.64 | -0.51% | 518.79 | | TSC Internet | 9.51 | -1.20% | 779.91 | | NOTE | CHANGE | PRICE | YIELD | | 10-Year Treasury | 3/32 | 98 24/32 | 5.918% | |
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (MWD Quote - Cramer on MWD - Stock Picks) stirred things up in the financial sector with a mixed bag of numbers for its third-quarter earnings report. The investment bank reported earnings of $1.09 a share, missing the 14-analyst estimate of $1.17, but up from year-ago earnings of 83 cents a share. Still, Morgan Stanley reported a 28% jump in third-quarter profits due to trading gains.
The news that it missed the consensus estimate came as a bit of a surprise, since fellow brokerage firms
Goldman Sachs (GS Quote - Cramer on GS - Stock Picks) and
Lehman Brothers (LEH Quote - Cramer on LEH - Stock Picks) posted strong earnings results earlier this week. Morgan Stanley, whose trades have gone in fits and starts this morning, was lately tumbling $9.31, or 9.7%, to $86.63.
And for investors sick of hearing earnings sob stories, Dow component
3M (MMM Quote - Cramer on MMM - Stock Picks) positive outlook news, was music to the ears. The diversified manufacturer said it expects annual sales growth of about 11% and earnings-per-share growth of about 13% over the next three years. 3M said strong results in Asia will help it achieve earnings expectations for the second half of the year, and also said it is redirecting its investments toward high-growth sectors. The stock was lately popping 6% to $86.69.
Car rental company
Hertz (HRZ Quote - Cramer on HRZ - Stock Picks) sped to the top of the Big Board highfliers list after
Ford (F Quote - Cramer on F - Stock Picks) offered to reacquire the 18.5% of the company it doesn't already own for $30 a share. The price represents about a 24% premium over yesterday's closing price. It was lately flying 29.6%, to $31.44.
The equity market, having lost all of its August gains in the first two and a half weeks of September, got a shot in the arm this morning from one of its biggest bulls -- Goldman Sachs' chief strategist Abby Joseph Cohen.
The Goldman strategist today reiterated her current equity allocation and said the market's concerns about oil, the euro and earnings are "overdone." She said the intermediate and long-term view on the market remains "bright."
Other strategists agree with that. Peter Cardillo, chief strategist at
Westfalia Investments says all the current negativity will eventually give way to upside or a relief rally. He expressed optimism about the third-quarter earnings outlook. "The elimination process of the above [earnings, energy prices and euro weakness] will begin with corporate earnings. From a contrarian viewpoint, when negative sentiment increases to its heights, a turnaround usually sets in. The more negative news, the greater the chance that an elimination process will take hold, and we could see a reversal process set in. Until then, it's going to be choppy," he said.
Though most indicators have lately been backing up the notion that inflation is in check, investors appear unwilling to let down their guard as long as oil prices continue to bump up against decade highs on supply concerns. And the
euro, which has been steadily touching new lows, is not exactly inspiring confidence in multinational companies.
TheStreet.com has been covering the oil crisis carefully. Our most
recent story appeared yesterday.
TheStreet.com has been tracking companies that have issued warnings about upcoming earnings, most of which have been affected by the weak euro or high oil prices -- or both. A chart of these warnings is
published separately. Volatility has been the name of the game in the past few trading sessions, as the market reacts quickly -- and not always rationally -- to the slew of earnings previews, both good and bad.
"From a technical standpoint, the market needs to bounce. The Dow has broken down and is approaching support levels -- we might get a relief rally," Cardillo said. "The Nasdaq, which did reach support levels earlier in the week, has bounced off them," he said, referring to the Comp's triple-digit-twist on Tuesday.
Also on the earnings front, cruise operator
Carnival (CCL Quote - Cramer on CCL - Stock Picks) posted third-quarter earnings of 67 cents a share, beating the consensus estimate of 64 cents. The stock has been scraping the bottom of a trading range for most of the year and is down more than 50% year to date. Lately it was sailing up 75 cents, or 4%, to $22.94.
Back to top Sector Watch
Financials were falling lower in the wake of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's disappointing earnings report. The
American Stock Exchange Broker/Dealer Index was off 3.6%, while the
Philadelphia Stock Exchange KBW/Bank Index was losing 2.1%.
Telecom stocks were seeing mixed action.
Ericsson (ERICY Quote - Cramer on ERICY - Stock Picks) was sliding 5.6%, while
Nokia (NOK Quote - Cramer on NOK - Stock Picks) was off 5%. A weak outlook from
Sprint (FON Quote - Cramer on FON - Stock Picks) yesterday translated into a European beating amid heightened concern about funding and debt levels. The
Nasdaq Telecommunications Index was off a modest 0.3%.
Back to top Bonds/Economy
Bonds are little changed on little news. Oil, which has been the main influence on bond prices in the last several sessions, is modestly weaker.
Congressional
testimony by Fed
Chairman Alan Greenspan
does not address the economy or monetary policy, and the only major economic report, the
Philadelphia Fed Index (
definition |
chart |
source ) for September, was more or less in line with expectations. It fell to 8.2 in September from 14.1 in August, indicating slower growth in the manufacturing sector.
Later in the session, the Treasury Department will conduct its latest buyback
, targeting $1.5 billion of 30-year bonds issued between 1987 and 1991.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note lately was down 5/32 to 98 24/32, yielding 5.92%
Back to top
Eileen Kinsella
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